Under the White Ensign: A Naval Story of the Great War

Calmly and resolutely Captain M'Bride's voice travelled along the whole length of the trench. Every man possessing a rifle gripped the weapon resolutely, while the rest of the d...

IT will now be necessary to set back the hands of the clock, and follow the adventures of Sub-lieutenants Webb and Haynes from the time when the cutter and the whaler parted com...

THE latitude and longitude given showed that the attack upon the mail-boat had occurred close to the Tripolitan coast off the province of Barca, a desolate country on the wester...

"HARD-A-STARBOARD!" roared Osborne. In the vivid glare of the now unmasked searchlights he had detected a short spar-like object projecting a couple of feet or more above the wa...

FOR the next few days the chums heard nothing more of the spy and his disguised tracker, nor did they deem it wise to make enquiries. It was not until the end of the week that n...

A ROUSING cheer from the other boats greeted Captain M'Bride when it was seen that he was for the time being safe. It was a spontaneous tribute to the skipper's popularity. Even...

HAVING selected his crew--a matter of personal difficulty--since no man cared to volunteer to exchange a post of peril for a duty only slightly less hazardous--Sub-lieutenant We...

"And treat with all proper respect," added Sub-lieutenant Haynes. "I remember how in the earlier part of the war people at home used to sneer at the lying Turkish _communiqués_,...

WITH assistance Dicky Haynes contrived to carry his brother Sub to the diminutive cabin, where three badly wounded men had already been placed in comparative shelter. More for h...

The fellow was attired in characteristic Bedouin dress. His face was of a deep olivine, his features being partly concealed by a heavy black beard and by the front of his burnou...

HAD the discovery of the petrol store been made a few hours earlier, steps would have been taken to cope with the peril from the sea that menaced the castaways. The defences tha...

A WEEK passed. Although the _Portchester Castle_ was far from being inactive, the result of almost continuous patrol work amongst the islands of the AEgean Sea produced nothing...

WITH hardly a sound Sub-lieutenant Webb made his way to the side of his sleeping chum, and roused him effectually and silently by the simple expedient of grasping him firmly by...

It was on the outskirts of Alexandria. Osborne and Webb, already "bored stiff" with the doubtful charms of the sun-baked Egyptian seaport, were longing to be afloat once more. U...

CAPTAIN STAGGLES interviewed the two delinquents separately. The skipper was one of those men who are apt to bluster and browbeat whenever occasion offered. It was his idea of i...

"STRANGE sail bearing N.N.E. seven miles: No. 0916 will proceed and investigate." This was the reading of a signal hoisted on the _Fleetwing_ within four hours of the destructio...

"GAME for a jaunt into Spanish territory, old man?" enquired Osborne, indicating the hilly ground across the blue waters of the bay. "There's a boat leaving for Algeciras in hal...

THE echoes of the explosion had scarce died away when the _Portchester Castle_ turned and steamed back to pick up her two boats. She was still about two miles off, and nearly th...

"WELL, that's a cool request," soliloquized Webb. "The old chap wants us to act the part of the cat, and hook the monkey's chestnuts out of the fire. All in a day's work, I supp...

Poor Laddie seemed the least concerned of any of the group. His jaw had dropped, and he presented a rather pathetic figure, with his wide-open eyes fixed upon his master.

IT was one of the rare occasions when Tom Webb could not carry out the Scout's maxim, "Keep smiling"--at least outwardly. On being slung out of the boat he had been temporarily...

Contrasted with the brightness of his comfortable cabin the blackness of the night seemed impenetrable. The horned moon, already well down in the western sky, was almost hidden...

LIEUTENANT OSBORNE'S first step was to take the captured felucca in tow. Leaving one man on board to attend to the helm, he steered the patrol-boat ahead, with a hawser made fas...

OF what happened during the next few minutes Sub-lieutenant Tom Webb had but a hazy confused idea. The reverberations of the tremendous detonation were straining his ear-drums a...

WE left Sub-lieutenant Tom Webb and the whaler's crew in the act of being rescued by a destroyer flying the Italian ensign. The vessel was the _Bersagliere_, a 28-knot boat arme...

THREE days later, No. 0916, in company with three other patrol-boats of similar type, left Malta for Grecian waters. They were not alone, for acting as a parent ship was the sea...

"THAT'S all very well," confided Webb, when the destroyer had taken charge of the captured felucca; "but I fancy we'll find out all about our mystery craft. She seemed mighty ke...

THE three officers stood aghast. They could do little or nothing to separate the struggling, heaving forms of the canine combatants. In ordinary circumstances Laddie would have...